This year has brought some drastic changes to the way people live and work. Not only have many people been forced to skip vacations and restrict outings, but they’ve also seen an end to the daily commute.
If your business is one of many that has had to shift to remote work, you may have already come to the realization that things are going to be this way for a while. In fact, many workers will remain remote long after COVID-19 has a vaccine or a cure.
But for some departments, remote work brings its own challenges. One of those departments is finance. No longer can you hand a piece of paper over to your boss to approve, and processing payments can be tough if those payments are coming to your office.
Fortunately, there are plenty of technologies that can make the process easier. Here are some solutions to get your finance team started.
Automate Processes
If you’re still relying on paper-based processes, now is definitely the time to think about making a change. Anything you can do to eliminate paper and move things along electronically will make a big difference in your efficiency as you’re working remotely. When an invoice comes in, for instance, you should be able to view it from anywhere, using your secure login, and send it on for the appropriate approvals so that it can be paid.
Eliminate Manual Entry
Since you can’t handle things by mail, now is a great time to shift to a self-service portal for your clients and vendors. If your own vendors offer this, take advantage of it. You’ll eliminate paper but, more importantly, you’ll automate the process of manually inputting every invoice or payment that comes across your desk. Clients and vendors will also love that they can log into a site and take care of transactions without having to wait for your team to process things.
Keep Communicating
Like everyone else, your finance team suffers from the lack of face-to-face interaction that happens in a traditional workplace. You probably already know that Zoom’s a great tool for videoconferencing, but Slack can also keep everyone in touch. Your finance team can interact throughout the day via text, ensuring everyone feels like they’re in the loop.
Secure Everything
As always, it’s important to invest in top-notch security. This becomes, even more, the case when teams are distributed, though. You’ll have employees working from their homes, using internet connections that may not be protected. For best results, look into setting up a VPN for every user who accesses your system. This will ensure the financial data that comes across your servers remains blocked from anyone hacking into your employees’ home networks.
Making the shift to automation has never been easier. Centreviews specializes in robotics process automation for finance teams and can help you adjust to a remote workforce. Get in touch with the Centreviews team today to schedule a demo to see how Centreviews can help your finance team during COVID-19 and beyond.
